BBC health journalist Laura Foster can’t get the first days of the pandemic out of her head; the stunned silence of the newsroom as the first lockdown was announced, the chaos and noise at the supermarket and the empty streets of London.
But even though she was a reporter covering every twist and turn of the story, she still can’t remember the first time she heard about long Covid.
The world was so engrossed by the immediate threat that few paid attention to what was happening around the edges; the people whose lives didn’t move on after that little red line disappeared from their test and whose symptoms never went away.
And that problem was getting bigger and bigger by the day.
We visit the UK’s very first long Covid clinic where healthcare workers started learning about this life-shattering disease in the hospital car park - and we find out why recovering from long Covid is a lot like training for the Olympics.
What did we know back then – and what do we know now? And are we really any closer to seeing the end of long Covid?
Details of organisations offering information and support with long Covid are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
Presenter: Laura Foster Producer: Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris
Oximetry at home, Rapid lateral flow tests for Covid
Statins and Nocebo, Vit D & Covid, new therapies for Covid
Covid in 2021 & a blood test that claims to detect cancer early
How Bangor Hospital's Intensive Care Unit is Preparing for Winter
20/10/2020
Covid-19 Test and Trace; Non-drug trials in a pandemic
Touch in Health Care
Antibodies to Covid in Kids, Covid and Colds, PIMS-TS,
Sticky Blood : From Blood Clots to Covid-19
Flu Vaccine; Dentistry and Covid; Diagnosing Coeliac disease; NHS preparations for winter
Bedside Covid Test; Longterm Covid Recovery
Prescribing Cycling; Temperature Checks; False Positives; Choirs and Covid-19
Public Health in the time of Coronavirus
Covid-19 and ethnicity in medicine; medical devices safety review
Covid-19 and the Impact on UK Cancer Services
Shielding; Pandemic Lexicon; Southampton Hospital; Doctor rejects NHS Superhero Tag
Longest Stay Covid-19 Patient; Health Inequalities; Agoraphobia; Covid-19 Testing
Acute Kidney Injury with Covid-19; Passive Immunisation; Online GPs; face mask interactions
Diabetes & Covid-19; Southampton Critical Care; Antigen Tests; Cytokine Storm
Smoking vs Covid-19; non-urgent treatments; loneliness surveys; Southampton update, covid and the law.
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